“Act with Awareness”

INIOHOS 2017

The Hellenic Air Force Air Tactics Centre ( Kentro Aeroporikis Taktikis - KEAT) was formed in the 1980s and is located at Andravida in northwestern part of the Peloponnesian Peninsula. KEAT has been hosting exercise INIOHOS at Andravida since 2013. Initially participating aircraft were deployed to 110 Combat Wing in Larisa, but in later years each aircraft operated from its home base. In 2005, INIOHOS was transformed into becoming a medium-scale exercise, involving all three branches of the Hellenic Armed Forces. On November 2013, a ‘Single Base Concept’ was adopted for INIOHOS and the selected host for the exercise was the 117 Combat Wing at Andravida, home of the Hellenic Air Force F-4E Phantom fleet. It was also decided that INIOHOS would become an ‘invitex,’ meaning other nations could be invited to participate in the exercise.

The 2017 edition marks the third time INIOHOS has featured international participation, with the US, Israeli, Italian and United Arab Emirates (UAE) Air Forces in attendance, both Italy and UAE being new participants at the exercise. The UAE contingent comprised the most advanced ‘Block 60’ F-16E/F variant of the Lockheed Martin F-16, while Italy sent the AMX ground attack aircraft.

US Air Force participation consisted of twelve F-16C Fighting Falcons from the 482nd Fighter Wing, Homestead Air Reserve Base, Florida. “This experience gives us the feel for a red deployment,” said Staff Sgt. Jordan Anthony, 482nd Maintenance Squadron crew chief. “It gives us a chance to improve flexibility with things we may or may not have and the opportunity to work in an environment we’re not used to,” enhancing the interoperability capabilities and skills amongst allied air forces in the accomplishment of joint operations and air defences to maintain joint readiness and reassure our regional allies. “We can deploy to a mission like this, almost like a bare base, and execute effective missions day-in and day-out,” observed Capt. Paul Deveaux, 482nd Maintenance Operations Group maintenance operations officer.

“After it is all done, we can redeploy home with the same effectiveness it took to get us here. “This exercise gives us the chance to strengthen our bonds with other countries like Italy, Israel, Greece, our allies, with a different type of air superiority.”

In addition to twelve F- 16Is, Israel provided another aircraft type – the Gulfstream G550 ‘ Eitam’ Conformal Airborne Early Warning (CAEW), acting as an ‘eye in the sky.’ The CAEW is fitted with an IAI Elta EL/W-2085 multi-band phased array radar providing 360-degree coverage combined with advanced electronic support measures, electronic intelligence and communications intelligence capabilities. False or ‘spoofing’ information broadcast from the AEW& C aircraft is designed to confuse pilots who already have much to contend with when engaging their opponents.

Finally, the 2017 edition of the exercise saw a wide variety of aircraft from various units within the host Air Force participating, with over twenty F-16s, Mirage 2000s and F-4Es deploying from Andravida.

While INIOHOS dates back to the late 1980s, when it was established as a small scale air warfare exercise exclusive to the Hellenic Air Force, in 2013 the focus of the exercise changed to a more international character based on experiences from the Tactical Leadership Programme (TLP) and the Red Flag exercises in the USA.

KEAT oversees the Tactical Weapons School ( Scholio Oplon Taktikis) which normally runs annual ten- week courses for HAF pilots. Decades of such training courses (updated and improved over time) have resulted in accumulation of a vast pool of experience that now provides high quality training during this multi-national invitational exercise. KEAT worked with the Hellenic Army and Navy to design each scenario to include time sensitive targeting (TST) strikes on land and sea. Each target such as a bridge, airfield or on naval vessels has an array of air defences from surfaceto-air missile batteries to defending aircraft. The Hellenic Army used their attack and utility helicopters such as the AH- 64D while the Navy had surface vessels with S-70 Seahawk helicopters conducting Exercise Astrapi parallel to INIOHOS.

The multinational exercise “enhances the interoperability capabilities and skills amongst allied air forces in the accomplishment of joint operations and air defences to maintain joint readiness and reassure regional allies.”

Each day different missions in a different warfare scenario were conducted. On average, some 120 sorties were flown in multiple missions per day through the exercise, encompassing counter air operations, fighter sweep, anti-surface force air operations, Combat Search and Rescue (CSAR), interdiction of air defences and air strikes against high value targets. . “The goal is to develop the exercise to the most demanding and realistic multinational LIVEX in Greece,” according to Lt Col Dimitrios Varsamis.

During the Media Day on 29 March, the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff, Lieutenant General Christos Vaitsis clearly stated that “the goal is for INIOHOS to become the largest multinational exercise in the European theatre” — and this is well on the way to becoming reality.